At present, it is well-known the importance of exercising for keeping a healthy body. Practicing sports of any type has become very popular for people of all ages, from kids to elders. Exercise benefits many parts of the body, including the mind. Exercising causes the body to produce endorphins, chemicals that can help a person to feel more peaceful and happy. Exercise can help some people sleep better. Exercise can also help some people who have mild depression and low self-esteem. People who exercise burn more calories and look more toned than those who do not. In fact, exercise is one of the most important parts of keeping your body at a healthy weight.
However, practicing regular sports like football or baseball is difficult for adults because of their daily schedule and the distance to the fields. That is one reason why going to health clubs (commonly referred to as a “gym”) is an excellent choice and extremely popular in today's society. Health clubs are usually open all day long, and they offer a wide array of services, including: a) a workout area, which primarily consists of free weights, including dumbbells, barbells and exercise machines; b) a cardio area, including many types of cardiovascular training-related equipment such as rowing machines, stationary exercise bikes, elliptical trainers and treadmills; c) sports facilities such as swimming pools, squash courts or boxing areas.
One of the typical pieces of equipment usually included as part of the workout area is the weight training bench. It is a piece of equipment that has a resemblance to a normal bench, but is designed for use in weight training. Weight training benches may be of various designs: fixed horizontal, fixed inclined, fixed in a folded position, with one adjustable portion, with two or more adjustable portions, with racks to hold bars, etc.
Benches are not only used for weight training, but also for many exercises like seated presses, crunches, etc. Every time a user is using the bench, perspiration remains on the outer surface of the bench in contact with the body. Even though some users are considerate enough to clean up the surface with a towel after the exercise, many users make no attempt to clean the surface for the next user. Failure to clean such surfaces is particularly common in crowded gyms, where one user might begin to use a piece of exercise equipment a mere few minutes or even seconds after a previous user completed use thereof. With such a short time interval between users, a great possibility exists for disease, bacteria and virus transmission. In addition to this likelihood, most people simply find it unpleasant to sit, lay, or grasp exercise equipment, which is coated in sweat from another person. For these reasons, many gyms at least attempt to require that each person wipe down the equipment after they use it.
There are some protective systems known in the market for covering a piece of training equipment. For example, an exercise equipment covering method for use by a person when using exercise equipment having a handle bar, comprising the steps of: providing a cover which is tubular, having two open ends and a longitudinal zipper extending between the two open ends, opening the longitudinal zipper to create a rectangular sheet of the cover, wrapping the cover around the handle bar; closing the zipper to form the cover into a tube through which the handle bar extends; using the exercise equipment; and removing said cover by the person. While this known solution is somewhat useful it presents some drawbacks. The zippered covering of the exercise equipment handle/bar is usually installed by the health club and remains on the equipment for an extended period of time. This in turn, actually produces an environment that is conducive for retaining bacteria, germs and viruses if not frequently removed and sanitized. Another disadvantage is that this solution does not cover a surface of a training bench and therefore leaves the bench surface free to accumulate sweat, bacteria and germs from other users.
Efforts to provide an exercise equipment protective covering for selectively covering exercise equipment training benches prior to and during use, to prevent the user from contact with bodily fluids from others that overcomes the drawbacks in the prior art have not met with significant success to date. As a result, there is a need in the art for a simple and affordable exercise equipment protective covering that provides for convenient application to a training bench.